“Um- good morning, scientist!”
“Yes, boss. Good morning.”
The boss, whom I unexpectedly ran into in the hallway, greeted me with a lively voice. Of course, considering how busy she was with her work, it was unusual for her to engage in trivial chit-chat, but that alone was peculiar enough.
Usually, she is evaluated as someone who is so cold that she seems devoid of any emotions. However, it seemed like she was angry every time she saw me, but nonetheless.
It was so rare for her to display emotions in her face and speech like that that Vira stared at me in surprise.
“You… what did you do?”
“What? What do you mean, what did I do?”
“Boss is not the type who shows such a happy expression, yet she is smiling so brightly!”
“Well, it was her birthday yesterday, so maybe she was pleased with our congratulations.”
“……Come to think of it, you gave her some kind of scented candle yesterday. What was that? Is it some kind of drug?”
“That’s rather inappropriate.”
I let out a laugh and looked at Vira. A drug? While there are certainly people who use it like that, it absolutely wasn’t a drug. It was definitely not.
In fact, it was quite the opposite. Just as no one would call a painkiller used in hospitals a drug, it was more akin to a remedy.
‘How much hardship did I go through to create that without a foundation…’
What I gifted to the boss wasn’t exactly a scented candle.
If people know that this world is made up of atoms, and that, even if those atoms can change their appearance through energy or waves, they never truly disappear from this world but only accumulate, they would easily grasp the identity of that scented candle.
Entropy Record.
It’s a sort of playback device that collects atoms engraved in this universe to recreate past events.
‘Normally, it should be calculated by a quantum computer, but I had to do it with a makeshift circuit, which was incredibly challenging.’
If they knew how tough it was for me, they wouldn’t easily jump to calling it a drug. If it were a drug, I would be using it myself instead of giving it to the boss, having strained my brain to its limits.
In the first place, it was a thing that could never have been created in this world. A critical flaw of science. Without foundational infrastructure, even an outdated technology from hundreds of years ago couldn’t be reproduced.
If this world didn’t have superpowers or magic, and I weren’t in a position where such beings were easily accessible, then even someone like me wouldn’t have been able to create it.
‘Superpower engineering… it’s impressive.’
At the same time, I felt that because of superpower engineering, pure science wasn’t developing. Even if someone worked hard to research and develop something, wouldn’t it become pointless if a super-powered individual with even better performance discovered it?
Given this situation, entrepreneurs weren’t inclined to pour large sums into scientific research. Instead, they focused on studies on how to better utilize superpowers.
“So? In the end, what did you create?”
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“…Do you know how mismatched that sounds coming from you?”
“How unfair.”
“Well, it’s true.”
As I bantered with Vira and entered the lab, I sensed a different atmosphere than usual and tilted my head in confusion.
Something that should have been there was noticeably absent. After pondering for a moment, I realized that what was missing was Aile.
‘She was told to study, but where has she gone now…’
There was no need to think too hard. After all, Aile’s destination was predetermined. I let out a hollow laugh and turned on the TV placed in the corner of the lab.
Entering the news channel as if I were familiar with it, I could see Aile’s figure displayed on the screen.
[Breaking News. An evil magical girl has appeared in City H… citizens are encouraged to evacuate swiftly…]
“Study, will you?”
“She must be under a lot of stress.”
“Even so, doing this in the daylight… given how she looks, it’s clear she didn’t mention it to the boss.”
I watched Aile, who was thrashing around evil magical girls from early in the morning, and the magical girl being beaten by her.
Seeing Aile so earnestly confronting those magical girls sparked my interest.
‘Magical girls were clearly created to combat the world’s enemies. They are beings born through spirits dispatched across various universes to confront those foes…’
In other words, magical girls are incredibly systematic entities. What does systematic mean? It means they operate above a civilization that has developed the spirits to a high degree. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be active enough to send out dispatchers across different universes.
This suggests that the spirits might also know the way to Earth. Suddenly, that thought crossed my mind.
‘If it’s various universes, could Earth also be…’
Finishing my thoughts, I stood up immediately. With Vira looking at me as if to ask where I was going, I pointed to the TV screen and said,
“I’m heading to City H.”
“Wha… you too? Are you going through some teenage rebellion?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m going because I need to.”
“Sure, sure. A guard should do their job…”
With Vira grumbling as she stood up, we headed towards City H, where Aile was busy waving her camaraderie wand at magical girls.
* * *
City H.
As its name suggests, this city is the happiest one among the 26 cities.
There are no villains, and cute girls can be easily encountered anywhere in this joyous city!
Today, people spend another day in this blissful city.
“Um, Scientist? Why are you here…?”
“I’ve become interested in magical girls.”
Aile, who had finished her activities as an evil magical girl and was purchasing magical girl merchandise in City H, was taken aback when she saw Eight standing in front of her.
What was he, who should have been in City E, doing here?
However, after hearing why he had come all the way here, she let out a sigh of relief, and when she discovered he had the tendencies of a magical girl otaku just like her, her eyes sparkled in delight.
“You’ve become interested in magical girls!? That’s great! Then let’s start with the most popular magical girl, Magical Physical Season 1─.”
“No, I didn’t mean interest like that…”
“Huh!? But look! This is a tear-jerking true story about how the original magical girls fought fiercely to protect the world─.”
Eight scratched his cheek, feeling quite troubled. Once Aile got going, she wasn’t easy to stop. It seemed she didn’t feel embarrassed to speak openly like that on the street.
Glancing around, Eight realized that, surprisingly, the people nearby didn’t seem interested in them at all, which made him exclaim quietly.
‘Surprisingly, they don’t seem to care? I guess talking about magical girls being a bit noisy is acceptable here…’
After all, it’s a situation where calling someone an otaku for watching magical girl anime would only work on Earth. In this city, where magical girls are real and have protected the city for generations while maintaining their public image like celebrities handled on TV or the internet, talking about magical girls wouldn’t be something to look down upon.
On the contrary, it’s strange not to follow magical girls in City H.
“More importantly— I just want to meet a magical girl once. Where can I go?”
“Huh? Do you want to meet them directly…?”
“…Meet them directly?”
“People who want to see magical girls directly… They say that watching them in media is the best experience!”
It didn’t seem right for an evil magical girl who thrashes other magical girls to say such a thing, but Eight simply let out a hollow laugh and nodded in understanding.
The reason he wanted to meet a magical girl was nothing other than because of the spirits, so there really wasn’t any need to meet them directly.
“So what about the spirits?”
“The spirits…?”
“Yes. The spirits that enable one to become a magical girl.”
“You can’t meet spirits, can you?”
“…What? Why not?”
Eight questioned in surprise. He had come all the way to City H to meet a spirit, but now he was told he couldn’t? Aile tilted her head as if asking if he didn’t know something so obvious.
“Well, spirits appear only to those with the potential to become magical girls… And you’re not a girl, right?”
“…Then I really do need to meet a magical girl directly.”
“I didn’t need a fan from the start who wanted to meet a magical girl directly…”
Even while complaining, Aile opened her smartphone and started typing furiously. True to her nature as a currently active (dropout) high school girl, she quickly finished her input and looked up at Eight.
“For now, I found a fan meeting for Hako Magical Girls nearby, so I made a reservation… But remember, just because she’s a magical girl, you can’t act too touchy-feely! Understood?”
“…Okay, I got it.”
“Uh, since I’m worried, I want to go with you!”
“Oh, then Vira should come too.”
“Yes, yes!”
Having swiftly completed her fan meeting reservation, Aile led the two to the venue. Upon arriving at the fan meeting location, Eight couldn’t help but smirk at the nearly empty hall, aside from a few people.
He had assumed magical girls would be praised and adored, but that wasn’t the case. Just look at the magical girl sitting in front of the table. Unlike other magical girls, she was hiding her face and body. If she couldn’t attract fans with her outward charm, she’d have to draw them in with other factors, but Eight had never seen a news feature with that mask before.
“—Thank you for coming today. I am Magical Girl White Pang.”
Starting the fan meeting herself without a host, White Pang began the handshake event with the seated fans one by one. Looking closely, those fans weren’t actual fans at all.
They were journalists coming out of curiosity to see the newly appeared magical girl’s face, or toxic fandoms trying to draw in the attention of magical girls by becoming fans of a lesser-known one.
“Ha, haha— you said your name was White Pang? Show me your face…”
“—I’m sorry. I have reasons for hiding my face.”
“Why—? You can’t be that ugly… Haah, haah—.”
Watching that toxic fandom, Eight couldn’t help but smirk when he realized it was finally his turn to face the magical girl.
With a voice devoid of any emotion, similar to how she’d addressed others before, White Pang opened her mouth.
“Welcome. It’s nice to meet you.”
Exchanging a light handshake with her, Eight looked at White Pang and, as if time was of the essence, immediately disclosed his main point.
“Miss White Pang?”
“Yes.”
“I need something, and I’d like to know how much it costs to buy you.”
“…Huh?”
“Sc-Scientist!?”
Ignoring Aile’s startled exclamation from behind, Eight continued to gaze at White Pang. If she refused, he could simply look for another place.
Then, White Pang paused for a moment, pressing her lips tightly together before carefully speaking up.
“…How much are you willing to offer?”
“—Anything.”
Fortunately, White Pang accepted that offer.
Satisfaction spread across Eight’s face as he rose from his seat.
“A magical girl… engaging in prostitution!?”
I did my best to ignore Aile’s incredulous voice trailing from behind.
